Background:
God brought his children out from an advanced Egyptian culture where a pharaoh thought he was god, to a wilderness land with a God they could not name, understand or even approach. Moses’ God “I Am” became their provider.
The Israelites had assimilated Egyptian and other deities into their Abrahamic covenant culture. God knew this, thus his plagues “neutered” any notion of Egyptian god supremacy. Moses and God led 2.4 million folks away from a very structured form of bondage toward freedom. Adamic natures typically ruin any good that comes from freedom (Tower of Babel). But God had a plan. He started with a command for one God, no exceptions, then decreed nine other absolutes and more than 600 Mosaic laws to bring order.
Adamic natures kick in. A discouraged Moses asked God to teach him his ways. God responded with (translated) “I’ll pitch my tent with you.” God brings order from chaos.
Moses builds a tabernacle to exact specifications allowing an Yahweh Shamma presence with his children as they visit it for business (sin) or for pleasure (worship [Exodus 25:8]). Moses had craftsmen design symbolic-rich sacred garments consecrating Aaron’s priestly family into service. Whether the chest piece with the 12 tribal stones, or pockets for Urim and Thummim, God had a divine purpose in every detail.
Questions:
Why didn’t God just tell Moses to pitch a tent and hire some priests? Why was it necessary for this Scripture to repeat “Moses did as the Lord commanded” 14 times? Why did the “Great I Am” care if his priests wore golden bells and pomegranates on the bottom of Holy garments?
Answer:
Many scholars have hypothesized, with most dissertations degrading into mere speculation. I join them. The tabernacle was built with Adamic natures doing precisely as the Lord commanded. God’s dwelling place was in order and holy, not in our purview as sinners. But God had a perfect plan to bring order from chaos. It began with “Let there be light” and ended with the Light of the World.
Fred Honeycutt, Four Oaks, N.C.
